A new, much-needed resolution

Published: Sunday, December 30, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 28, 2012 at 12:43 p.m.

Many of us welcome each new year by making resolutions. Of course, most last for a very short period before we are back into our old habits. Predictable creatures, we humans!

This seems a perfect time to bring up a resolution idea aimed at improving relations with our fellow citizens. Over the past few years, many of us seem to have developed the bad, if well-intended, habit of forwarding email messages that are highly critical of those in the other political party without making much of an attempt to verify the content as being truthful.

We often hear the old adage about how to tell if a politician is lying. Of course, the answer is, "His/her lips are moving." Interestingly, we tend to believe most of what our favored political party's candidates and elected tell us, and disbelieve most of what those from the opposite party have to say. Our behavior shows we think politicians are liars — except for our own.

Much of the national media has also learned to spin the truth to fit its audience's favored political party. The management of these various outlets cares much less about our nation, politics or citizens than ratings and the revenues they generate.

The Internet age has allowed an increasing number of ordinary Americans to also become involved in the truth-spinning process. The result is an absolute barrage of negative email messages, mainly between kindred souls who share the same party affiliation. Almost all come with a final sentence: "Please forward to everyone you know."

By doing a lot of fact-checking, I have found far too many of these messages contain false allegations. I must confess that at one time I was guilty of passing on some of these messages to my pals. Then I got burned on a few of them (terribly embarrassing). Recipients would say the message I had forwarded had been discredited by services such as FactCheck.org or Snopes.com. I went to those two websites, and sure enough, they confirmed the messages' contents were false. Since then, I routinely check for veracity before even considering forwarding emails to anyone.

Do you wonder where these fake messages originate? I wouldn't be surprised if many, if not most, of these messages were funded and created by the same Super PACs that bombarded the media with negative messages during the recent campaigns. Frankly, I would be more surprised if they weren't.

Just like the negative ads bombarding voters during the recent campaign, very few of these emails tout the positives of any candidate. Instead, they almost universally attack candidates from the opposing party.

Neither party has the high ground on this. It's even understandable. We are so fearful for our country and our families that we have become overly anxious to do whatever possible to help our favored party. Actually going out in the streets to work for candidates is hard work. Pushing a send button — not so much. And so we participate in what is in fact electronic rumormongering.

Most of the folks I receive these false messages from are good and decent people who I am sure would never knowingly tell a lie. However, in the heat of political debate, they fail to spend the few minutes required to check the veracity of a message before hitting the send button. Do we really want to be no better than the politicians we routinely accuse of lying? Can we not spend just a few minutes checking for accuracy before forwarding a message?

End of sermon; here are my New Year resolutions:

1. Eat healthier. (Are french fries a vegetable?)

2. Exercise more often. (Does keyboard work count?)

3. Don't get mad at other drivers (except for the idiot ones).

4. Say "yes, dear" more often — and mean it. (She'll never buy it!)

5. Spend less time on my computer. (Does switching to my iPad count?)

6. Try harder to be more optimistic. (How, when the sky is falling?)

7. Don't take myself so seriously. (After all, nobody else does.)

8. Lose a few pounds. (I prefer to think of my extra weight as famine insurance.)

9. Stop smoking. (Oops! I already did it 30 years ago.)

10. Resolve to never, ever make another stupid resolution!

I know I'll likely break most of these — but I promise to stop passing on emails without verifying them.

Happy New Year!

These are the opinions of a former electronic rumormonger. What do you think?

Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. Reach him at mike41tower @gmail.com or visit capau.org.

<p>Many of us welcome each new year by making resolutions. Of course, most last for a very short period before we are back into our old habits. Predictable creatures, we humans!</p><p>This seems a perfect time to bring up a resolution idea aimed at improving relations with our fellow citizens. Over the past few years, many of us seem to have developed the bad, if well-intended, habit of forwarding email messages that are highly critical of those in the other political party without making much of an attempt to verify the content as being truthful.</p><p>We often hear the old adage about how to tell if a politician is lying. Of course, the answer is, "His/her lips are moving." Interestingly, we tend to believe most of what our favored political party's candidates and elected tell us, and disbelieve most of what those from the opposite party have to say. Our behavior shows we think politicians are liars — except for our own.</p><p>Much of the national media has also learned to spin the truth to fit its audience's favored political party. The management of these various outlets cares much less about our nation, politics or citizens than ratings and the revenues they generate.</p><p>The Internet age has allowed an increasing number of ordinary Americans to also become involved in the truth-spinning process. The result is an absolute barrage of negative email messages, mainly between kindred souls who share the same party affiliation. Almost all come with a final sentence: "Please forward to everyone you know."</p><p>By doing a lot of fact-checking, I have found far too many of these messages contain false allegations. I must confess that at one time I was guilty of passing on some of these messages to my pals. Then I got burned on a few of them (terribly embarrassing). Recipients would say the message I had forwarded had been discredited by services such as FactCheck.org or Snopes.com. I went to those two websites, and sure enough, they confirmed the messages' contents were false. Since then, I routinely check for veracity before even considering forwarding emails to anyone.</p><p>Do you wonder where these fake messages originate? I wouldn't be surprised if many, if not most, of these messages were funded and created by the same Super PACs that bombarded the media with negative messages during the recent campaigns. Frankly, I would be more surprised if they weren't.</p><p>Just like the negative ads bombarding voters during the recent campaign, very few of these emails tout the positives of any candidate. Instead, they almost universally attack candidates from the opposing party.</p><p>Neither party has the high ground on this. It's even understandable. We are so fearful for our country and our families that we have become overly anxious to do whatever possible to help our favored party. Actually going out in the streets to work for candidates is hard work. Pushing a send button — not so much. And so we participate in what is in fact electronic rumormongering.</p><p>Most of the folks I receive these false messages from are good and decent people who I am sure would never knowingly tell a lie. However, in the heat of political debate, they fail to spend the few minutes required to check the veracity of a message before hitting the send button. Do we really want to be no better than the politicians we routinely accuse of lying? Can we not spend just a few minutes checking for accuracy before forwarding a message? </p><p>End of sermon; here are my New Year resolutions:</p><p>1. Eat healthier. (Are french fries a vegetable?)</p><p>2. Exercise more often. (Does keyboard work count?)</p><p>3. Don't get mad at other drivers (except for the idiot ones).</p><p>4. Say "yes, dear" more often — and mean it. (She'll never buy it!)</p><p>5. Spend less time on my computer. (Does switching to my iPad count?)</p><p>6. Try harder to be more optimistic. (How, when the sky is falling?)</p><p>7. Don't take myself so seriously. (After all, nobody else does.)</p><p>8. Lose a few pounds. (I prefer to think of my extra weight as famine insurance.)</p><p>9. Stop smoking. (Oops! I already did it 30 years ago.)</p><p>10. Resolve to never, ever make another stupid resolution!</p><p>I know I'll likely break most of these — but I promise to stop passing on emails without verifying them.</p><p>Happy New Year!</p><p>These are the opinions of a former electronic rumormonger. What do you think?</p><p>Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. Reach him at mike41tower @gmail.com or visit capau.org.</p>